Spare Parts
by Aya Diefair
Summary: All Nebula wanted was to win, no matter what it took. — - Warning: Children Forced to Fight Each Other; Child Soldier Training; Violence; Major Injury; Non-Consensual Body Modification


**Author's Note: **We have been told that Nebula once wasn't her cyborg self that we know now. I wondered what her first major robotic change was, and upon close observation, I noticed she utilized and tinkered with her left arm frequently for various types of things. We also know that Nebula perceived her robotic additions to be an attempt to improve her, so I took it as a form of punishment upon her loss, but only if a major injury occurred. This is what had me decide to write this story, and I hope that it turned out alright because writing action scenes is a lot harder than I thought it'd be.

Just to clear some things up: I purposely didn't use a standard measurement of time in here because why would extraterrestrial beings use earth-based models of time? Instead, I used the term "planet turns", which you can comprehend to mean the full turn of a planet to replicate their version of a full day. I am mostly inferring it to be a standard measurement of a planet turn that could sustain life similar to Earth since in _Guardians of the Galaxy_ most planets they visit seem to replicate gravity similar to ours. There is some random unneeded info for ya.

**Warning Tag: **Children Forced to Fight Each Other; Training Child Soldiers; Violence; Major Injury; Non-Consensual Body Modifications

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**Spare Parts**

They were ordered to duel in the space dome today. It was one of Nebula's most hated arena's on the ship to fight in due to the intended nature of feeling vulnerable and exposed while surrounded by the vast emptiness that was the darkness of the cosmos. Even with the countless galaxies sparkling across the never-ending span of gasses, dust, and space junk, it brought her no comfort. Her home was no longer living among them, and the man who sat on the throne above the arena was directly responsible for her home planets destruction.

The two girls have been fighting each other for what felt like eons now, but Nebula knew that she was still only a child in her people's measurement of age. Though she appeared physically fully grown, her long lanky form still lacked the natural strength and muscle tone of an adult Luphomoid. She suspected Gamora—a Zehoberei—was once a species naturally designed to be fighters and was already more toned and filled out in comparison to their appearances.

Though their diets could be a contributing factor, she hadn't had a proper meal in weeks, but what Nebula knew of her species was that she was naturally designed for speed and endurance rather than brute force. It just meant that she had to wear Gamora down to get the upper hand. It was always her strategy, but it was never enough.

Thanos told them today was supposedly a special one, and that the victor would be well rewarded because of it. Nebula knew he liked to instill in them some kind of comfort and compassion for him, that he was a caring and merciful father figure, but being in Thanos' control for roughly three-thousand and six hundred standard planet turns by now (Nebula guesstimated, anyway. Measurement of time was blurred in space, but she learned that the turn of a planet that was capable of sustaining life was a general way to track a sense of time out in the cosmos.), had taught her to know better by now.

The chime resonated within the dome and Gamora wasted no time charging Nebula. She was in a particularly foul mood today, so dealing with Gamora and her ruthlessness was not something Nebula was going to tolerate during this fight.

Gamora shot forward with a snarl, moving with purpose and swiftness, making her unable to anticipate Nebula side-stepping the attack. She grabbed her by the shoulder at the last second and shoved hard, using Gamora's own momentum to jerk herself off-balance enough for Nebula to dodge the anticipated punch that she twisted her body into sloppily swinging her way. Nebula swept her sister's legs from under her then, knocking Gamora flat onto her back. The sudden kick to her side prompted Nebula to grab Gamora's leg and violently twist it at the ankle in an attempt to subdue her.

Gamora's maneuvers to tear away from Nebula's grasp eventually had her release her ankle, allowing Gamora to roll away before quickly getting to her feet again. They found themselves in a tangle of precise kicks and punches to pressure points and joints mixed with deflecting hits and dodging the blows. Despite only having rations of the unpleasant nutrient drink once a day for thirty planet turns now, Nebula's endurance held up, but if previous fights taught her anything, she knew that salvaging her energy was the only way to keep up with Gamora anymore. Wearing her down was still difficult, and the seldom few victories Nebula has obtained always resulted in disabling Gamora as efficiently and as quickly as possible.

Unfortunately, she wasn't the only one who learned from these fights.

Time passed and Nebula started to grow slightly breathless, as did Gamora. She saw in the corner of her eye guards bring a weapons rack out. This indicated Thanos grew bored of Nebula continuously deflecting Gamora's onslaught of attacks and needed them to take it to the next level, but she knew she had to do everything in her power to keep her sister away from those weapons. If she got a hold of one, Nebula would be finished.

She attempted to bolt for them, but Gamora knew her tactic, and even though she was still lying on the ground at Nebula's feet, she managed to grab ahold of Nebula's leg and scaled up her body before she could get very far. The threatening growl escaped from Nebula as she tried to throw Gamora off her, but she had already managed to wrap a leg over her shoulder. Locking her knee joint around Nebula's throat, Gamora proceeded to squeeze her leg viciously, attempting to subdue and stop her from going for the weapons. Nebula clawed at her while hitting her knee cap, hip, and side continuously, even managing to bite her on the calf was not making much of an impact, and the slow suffocation started to get to her already exhausted body. She eventually threw her body forward, causing Gamora to hit the ground while Nebula moved into a roll, effectively throwing her sister off her as well as putting her that much closer to the weapons.

Her teeth had torn away from Gamora's leg, leaving her jaw sore and tingly, but Nebula managed to get to an electric spear before her sister for once. With all the remaining strength she could put behind the swing, the spear electrified on contact when it struck Gamoa square to the side of her head as she lurched for a weapon of her own. This threw her body into a half-spin and having her land on her front.

Nebula smirked despite the horrible impact sound it made. She got the upper hand on her sister, she could still win.

With fresh determination, Nebula got to her feet before inflicting another blow on Gamora's paralyzed body, striking her in the back this time. She was still conscious, however, and the spit she left behind was mixed with her species blood.

Pressing the spear threateningly close to her neck and slamming her foot hard down onto her shoulder blades, Nebula looked down at her sister with hidden pity. If she were in Gamora's position, she would've been beaten until she yielded or passed out, but Nebula was always more merciful and sometimes she hated herself for being too soft.

Thanos made sure to throw that weakness in her face every chance he got, too.

"Do you yield?"

Gamora snarled and Nebula smacked her face hard with the spear again, sending a shock through her body. With good measure, Nebula stomped hard on the small of her back this time.

"Yield!"

"You'd have to kill me," Gamora hissed, and it broke Nebula's heart.

She went to hit her again, but her sister recovered from the paralysis in time to twist her body enough to grab the end and rip it from her hands. This startled Nebula, but before she attempted to recover from the force, Gamora shifted again, kicking Nebula's leg before using the triggered stumble to stab Nebula in the side with the spear. Nebula crumbled to the ground from the effects of the well-aimed shock, but this only made her mad.

Nebula got to her feet and risked pursuing hand-to-hand combat with Gamora. Her attempts to get the spear from Gamora were successful when she managed to curl her leg around the pole and pull it away during a dodged attack. When Nebula lurched in to grab for it back, Gamora latched onto her arm before twisting her body around Nebula's until her arm was painfully locked behind her back. Gamora kicked the back of her knee, forcing her to kneel and lean forward. Gamora pushed into her back, pulling Nebula's arm further out of place with the leverage.

"Drop the spear, Nebula."

Nebula released a cry of pain, her jabs with her elbow were futile, and the spear, now wedged between one of her legs and the ground, was rendered useless to her. Despite this, Nebula gripped the spear tighter in hand out of spite.

"You'd have to kill me," she echoed back through clenched teeth.

Nebula felt Gamora's weight shift ever so slightly, easing off her just enough for her to immediately use it to pull herself free from underneath her. The spear sliced her leg in the process, but Gamora didn't let go of her arm during the maneuver, and the sudden slap of pain that surged through her told Nebula she lost.

Gamora had kicked her side when Nebula tried to lurch away, pulling her twisted arm into an unnatural way when she did so. This effectively pulled Nebula's shoulder completely out of place and then some. The intense pain that surged from her mangled limb caused Nebula to fall onto the spear in the process, its pulsating shock throwing her into unconsciousness.

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The darkness started to ebb away from her vision. Nebula wished that it didn't, she wanted—yearned—to be dead. The searing pain that screamed at her forced her eyes to open in order to locate the source. The brightness of the room was nearly blinding, and the thrum of intense ache pulsed from her left side and chest. Monitors were scattered about, and the ship's healers were standing in the far side of the room holding charts and discussing something among themselves.

Why did her arm have to hurt so badly?

Raising her arm to move, Nebula placed a light hand over her chest where the spear gashed her open. Her arm felt clunky and very foreign... what happened to her, exactly?

It wasn't the stitches that she felt lining the skin that alarmed her, it was the fact that her left arm was now a shimmering metal mechanical piece attached to her being. She could move it, she could feel things with it by touch… rotate it on the mechanical joint of her shoulder and elbow… but this meant… this meant…

_"You know what is more worthless than you, Nebula?" Thanos asked in an eerie calm tone, holding her by the arm just outside the darkroom. "Spare parts from an even more useless android."_

The tears welled in Nebula's eyes then, and the scream that ripped through the room startled the staff into subduing her now hysterical crying and thrashing body. The punch she threw was quickly reprimanded with a sedative and she felt herself grow numb as they strapped her down.

Gamora had finally done it. Her viciousness had maimed Nebula beyond proper repair and cost her a limb. She was now reduced to nothing but a piece of mechanical junk. She knew that was all anyone ever saw her as. Thanos said so himself.

She was nothing but spare parts.

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_Originally Written For:_

**Hogwarts School Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments)**

**Monthly Challenges for All**

**Word Count: **(Per Google Docs) 1,787

**Originally Written: **November 2019


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